We've discussed variations on this in the past, but I've never heard of anyone successfully implementing it.

There is a real-life equivalent...
When I used to skydive, we would routinely stuff 4 or 5 skydivers and a pilot into a (gutted) Cessna 180 with a lot of fuel. It wasn't unusual for the pilot to ask us all to move as far forward as possible during takeoff... not to reassuring, but I'm still alive.

Those were the good old days... Sometimes (since the plane was gutted, and the control cables were exposed) one of us would yank on the control cables (at a safe altitude) just to "check the pilot's reflexes".